Pope Francis in the Church of the Gesù in Rome. Photos courtesy of the Jesuit Curia.

Pope Francis Celebrates Bicentennial of the Restoration of the Jesuits

September 27, 2014 — Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope,
celebrated a special liturgy of thanksgiving in the Church of the Gesù in Rome today
to mark the 200th
anniversary of the restoration of the Society of Jesus. In 1814, Pope Pius VII re-established
the Society of Jesus in the universal Church after it was suppressed in 1773 by Pope
Clement XIV.

"The date of September 27 [for
the liturgy] was not chosen by chance. For us Jesuits, it’s a very important
day because on September 27, 1540, Pope Paul III approved the Society for the
first time,” explained Jesuit Father Giuseppe Bellucci.

In his homily, Pope Francis spoke
about the importance of discernment. “Only discernment saves us from real
uprooting, from true ‘suppression’ of the heart, which is selfishness,
worldliness, the loss of our horizon. Our hope, is Jesus; it is only Jesus.”

He also called upon Jesuits to be “brave and expert rowers.”

“Row, be strong, even with the
headwind! We row in the service of the Church. We row together! But while we
row — we all row, even the Pope rows in the boat of Peter — we must pray a lot,
‘Lord, save us! Lord save your people.’”

Pope Francis gives Father General Adolfo Nicolás, SJ, the Book of the Gospels and asks him to "Go set the world on fire," quoting Ignatius.

He concluded his homily by reminding Jesuits that their identity "is that of a man who loves God and loves and serves his brothers, showing by example not only that in which he believes, but also that in which he hopes, and who is the One in whom he has put his trust.”

After Pope Francis finished speaking, all the Jesuits present, led by Fr. Adolfo Nicolás, SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, renewed their promise of commitment to the mission and to the Successor of Peter.

Pope Francis was welcomed to the Church of the Gesù by Fr. Adolfo Nicolàs, SJ, Superior General of the Jesuits.

Fr. Nicolàs thanked the pope — whom he called “Brother Francis” — for being with them for this milestone celebration.

At the end of the
service, Pope Francis visited a side chapel in the church and blessed a
painting, a Deposition of Christ by the artist Safet Zec. The painting was installed that morning,
just a few hours before the pope's arrival. This Deposition — the removal of
Christ's body from the cross — is unique in that the faces of the three Jesuits
who are buried in that side chapel are depicted in the painting, and each guided the Society during times of struggle:
St. Joseph Pignatelli, SJ, (1737-1811), a Spanish Jesuit who served as a guiding
light during the time of the Suppression of the Society; Jan Roothaan, SJ,
(1785-1853), superior general during a period when Jesuits were still being
banished from many countries; and Pedro Arrupe, SJ, (1907-1991) the superior
general who, after suffering a stroke in 1981, appointed a Vicar General who
was removed by Saint John Paul II and replaced by the Vatican's own delegate to
run the Society.

August 21, 2018 – As we reckon with the Grand Jury report on sexual abuse by priests in Pennsylvania and the failures of bishops to protect the children entrusted to their care, our hearts and prayers—first and foremost—are with the victim-survivors.

January 17, 2019 — Let us pray in thanksgiving for the life of Fr. Eugene F. Merz, SJ, who was called to eternal life on January 16, 2019, around 5:30 a.m. Gene died at Zilber Hospice in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. He was eighty-seven years old, a Jesuit for seventy years, and a priest for fifty-seven years.

January 16, 2019 — It was a homecoming fifty years in the making. In 2016, Fr. Casey Bukala, SJ, moved to the Colombiere Center near Detroit, where elder Jesuits live in community, receive the healthcare they need, and pray for the Church and the Society. It was not Fr. Bukala’s first time at Colombiere, however.

January 9, 2019 — Let us pray in thanksgiving for the life of Fr. John “Jack” R. Crocker, SJ, who died on Tuesday, January 8, 2019, at Colombiere Center in Clarkston, Michigan. He was 88 years old. May he rest in peace.